Abrading machine



Sept. ,2, 1 930.

A. B. FQWLER ABRADING. MACHINE Filed March 25. 1925 W6 Fi .23.

Patented Sept. 2, 1930 ALFRED B. FOWLER, OF BEVERLY, MASEiACHUSETTi-l,ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MA- CHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATTERSON, NEWJERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY Application filed March 25, 1925.

This invention relates to work holders for abrading machines and isherein illustrated as embodied in a machine for grinding blades ofrotary cutters as, for instance, those of heel trimmi machines. The typeof heel trim- -2: Y a u mmg blade disclosed for lllustrative purposes isthat commonly known as the Ultlma blade. Such'a blade, which is designedfor use in machines of the type of the well known Ultima heel trimmingmachine, is curved both laterallyand longitudinally and has a cuttingedge profile which may vary froma slight curve for operation on heelswith substantially straight sldes to an ogee curve for operation onLouisand similar heels having ming cutters, such as blades of the type re-''ferred to, which holder will be constructed and arranged to allow theblades to be conveniently inserted therein and removed therefrom. J v

Vfith this object in vie'w,a feature of the invention consists in theprovision, in an abradin'g machine, of a novel work holder having aplurality of co-operating clamping 'members for holdinga blade,automatic means for securing an initial yielding clampmg of the blade bysaid clamping members and manual means for securing an increased finalnon-yielding clamping action of the clamping arms on the blade. Thus, as11- lustrated, provision is made for separation of the clamping members,which are pro *lClQCl on their opposite lnterior faces wlth grooves thatcorrespond to the opposite side edges of the blade being operated upon,this separation allowing the insertion of a blade between them 111 thegrooves, after which one of the clampingmembers is automatically movedmthe direction of the other to grip the side edges of'th'e inserted bladeand, upon manipulation of the manual means referred to, final firmclamping of the blade is effected.

It will be understood that the invention which'is herein illustrated asbeing embodied ABRADII'TG IIJIACHINE Serial No. 18,2522.

in a machine for supporting a cutter blade of the well-known Ultima typeis in no respect limited to the particular type of blade to be operatedupon other than may be determined from the scope of the appended claims.

The inventionis more fully described in the following specification andshown in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a top plan viewof the grinding machine constructed in accordance with the presentinvention and shows the Work carrier mounted on the slide bar andsupporting the Ultima heel trimming blade;

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig.1; and

Fig. 3 is a detail, front elevational view of the work carrier withparts broken away to show the manner in which the carrier is connectedwith the slide bar.

leis a rear perspective view of the work iolder with certain partsbroken away;

' Fig. 5 is a'detail view showing the manner in which the work holder ismounted; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of an Ultima heel trimming blade.

Referring to the drawings, a work holder for supporting a heel trimmingblade 36 is indicated generally at 22 and comprises a body portion 24:and a plurality of outwardly extending arms 40, 48 carried by the bodyportion and arranged to grip the opposite side edges of the blade 36.One of these arms, indicated at l0 is formed integrally with the bodyportion 24, and the other, indicated at 4:8, is provided with a lug 51(Fig. 4c) which fits into a groove formed ina lateral extension of thebody portion. The opposite interior faces of the clamping arms 40, 48are provided with grooves 52 shaped, to correspond to, and to receive,ridges formed on the side edges of the blade 36.

The provision of the lug 51 and the groove 50 permits the arm 48 to beslidably adjusted along the body member 2 1 toward or away from therigid, integral arm 40 to facilitate positioning the cutting blade 36within the holder and to accommodate readily blades of different widths.To the end of efiecting this adjustment between the clamping arms,mechanism is provided which includes a sleeve 54' extending through theupper portion of the arm and arranged for lengthwise movement relativelyto the arm 40 but held against rotation by means of a fixedly carriedkey 77 (Fig. engaging within a guideway 79 formed in the cylindricalsurface of the sleeve A screw rod 62 is rotatably mounted within thesleeve 54 and has one ot its ends provided with an operating handle 64,and its opposite end is threaded at 66 for engagement withincorrespondingly threaded bore 68 formed in the arm 48. A. collar 70 ispinned to the screw rod 62 and co-operates with the handle 64 to preventlengtlnvise movement of the rod relatively to the encompassing sleeveThus it will be seen that the rod 62 may be rotated, by means of theoperating handle (54, in one direction to cause relative approachbetween the arms 40, 48, or, in the other direction to cause relativeseparation between the arms. Then also, the sleeve 54. carrying with itthe rod (32, may be moved lengthwise to ellect approach or separationbetween the arms 40, 48. The rod (32 thus serves as a slidably mountedconnection to move the clamping member {-8.

The work holder is, however, provided with means which normally tends tomove the slidable arm 48 in a direction towards the fixed arm 40, and isadditionally provided with means tending positively and normally toprevent movement of the slidablc arm 48 in a direction away from thefixed arm 40. Accordingly, a compression spring T2 is arranged toencircle the sleeve all and to extend between the upper portion of thearm 40 and the operating handle (34 thereby tending to move theoperating handle to the left of the posi inn illustrate-F i movement ofhandle t i s imparted directly to the sl and arm -18, causing the latterto iljHplOZlll the tixed arm 40.

The means for positively preventing movement ol the arm 4-8 in theopposite direction (away from the arm 4(1) *onstitutes the 54- providedwith a series oi racl-t to which are adapted to be one: by a lo lent spii s cured pawl 53 carried by a to the body portion 2. of a shape, asillustrated in i, that when engaged by the pawl 53 relative n1) preachbetween the clamping arr-is ill, in. is permitted, but relativeseparation therehetween is prevented. .ln the use of the worl: holder,the lea'l' spring 70 is manually pulle back to retract the pawl 53% fromeng s 'ith the rack teeth 56, and the operating handle 64 is manuallymoved to the right of the position shown in Fig. l, to separate theclamping arms 40, 4S. Yfith the arms 40, so held, the leaf spring isreleased. l1 blade 36 is inserted into the holde and the ope-ratinghandle is next released to allow he compression spring T2 to expand,thereby moving the arm 48 in the direction of the arm 40 until theopposite side edges of the blade 36 are engaged by the grooves formed inthe arms. Such an operation effects an initial adjustment of the armsrelatively to the blade 36, and in order to apply further clampingpressure to the side edges of: the blade and to efi'ect a more accurateadjustment of the arms 40, 48 to the width of the supported blade, thehandle 64 may be rotated to impart rotation to the screw rod 62, whichmovement causes the arm 48 to move slowly and positively, towards thearm 40. Such a provision allows a very minute and accurate adjustment ofthe blade-supporting members to be made.

A compression spring 80 encircles the threaded end of the screw-rod 62and is for the purpose of preventing back-lash between the threadsformed on the end of the rod 62 and those formed in the bore 68 of thearm 48.

The illustrated work-holder 22 is provided with gaging means to assistin positioning a cutter blade within the holder preparatory toperforming an abrading operation upon the blade, or to assist inpositioning successive blades with their cutting edges occupyingsubstantially the same position relatively to a grinding wheel 12. Tothis end, the downwardly extending fixed arm 40 of the holder has anarcuate slot 42 formed therein anywhere lengthwise of which may befixedly secured in a position of desired adjustment a stop 44 providedwith a co-operating lock nut 46. A gage, herein illustrated as a tinger74, is pivotally secured to a projecting portion 38 of the arm 40 and isnormally held in the iii-operative position best illustrated in Figs. 1and 4, by means of a. torsion spring 78. The finger 74, however, may bemanually moved into the position illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 2,in which it lies above the groove 52 formed in the arm 40 and engagesthe cutting edge of the blade 36. Thus the blade may be inserted intothe holder and moved up through the grooves into engagement with thegage 74, in which position the blade may be firmly held by means of theadjustable stop 44 cooperating with the clan'lping arms 40, 48.

The work holder 22 is mounted upon one extremity of a slide rod 20(Fig, 1) in such a manner that it may be pivotally adjusted relativelyto the rod for the purpose of varying the angle of presentation of thecutter blade 36 to the grinding wheel 12 to produce a cutting edgehaving a desired predetermined angular bevel. As illustrated in Figs. 2,3, 4 and 5 the mounting of the work holder which permits of such anadjustment comprises a flat downwardly extending arm 32 formed on oneend of the slide rod 20 and a shoulder bolt 26 (Fig. 3) which extendsthrough the rod 20 and has threaded engagementwith the body portion 24of the work holder. The shoulder formed on the bolt 26 is of such aheight as to prevent binding frictional engagement between the rod andbody portion 24, and of such a diameter as to be capable of rotatingfreely pivotally within the bore formed in the rod 20; therebypermitting the work holder 22 to be pivotally swung relatively to therod 20. Provision is made for locking the work holder in a desiredposition of adjustment relatively to the rod 20, and accordingly, thedepending arm 32 of the rod 20 has formed therein an arcuate slot 30. Alocking bolt 28 (Figs. 3 and 5) extends through the slot and through thebody portion 24 of the work holder and is provided with a threadedextremity for receiving a co-operating locking nut 34. In adjusting thework holder, the nut 34 may be loosened, the holder swung into a desiredposition and the nut 34 tightened to secure the holder in the adjustedposition.

Inasmuch as the illustrated grinding wheel 12, which is mounted forrotation on a shaft 10, is of discal shape (Fig. 1), and is of a widthconsiderably less than that of the cutter blade 36, it will beappreciated that in order to grind effectively completely along thelength of the cutting edge, the supported blade must be traversed acrossthe peripheral portion of the grinding wheel, or, on the other hand, thegrinding wheel must be traversed along the cutting edge of the supportedblade. In the illustrated embpdim-ent, the grinding wheel 12 is mountedfor rotation only, being held against bodily displacement,

and the work holder 22 is adapted to be traversed relatively to thewheel. Accordingly, the slide rod 20, to which the work holder issecured, is mounted within a sleeve 18 formed at one extremity of areciprocable slide bar 16 (Fig. 1). A bearing 14 is provided forsupporting the slide bar 16 and for guiding the latter during itsreciprocation.

Further, since the illustrated cutter blade is curved both laterally andlongitudinally, it is essential to properly grinding the blade that itbe moved gradually towards the grinding wheel 12 during the early partof the traversing movement, and gradually away from the wheel during thelater part of the movement, thereby insuring that the entire length ofthe cutting edge will be ground, notwithstanding the general concavityof the blade. To this end, as illustrated, the slide rod 20 is providedwith a bolt 92 which ea:- tends upwardly through a slot 94 formed in thesleeve 18. A link 86 pivoted between its ends to a rigid extension 88 ofthe sleeve 18 is arranged at one end closely to surround the bolt 92 andat its opposite end is provided with a follower roll 84 for engaging atemplate 82. A compression spring tends to hold the roll 84 inengagement with the template 82 which is fixedly secured to the bearingmember 14 in any suitable manner.

By forming the template in'accordance with the concavity of the blade tobe ground, it will be appreciated that during movement of the workholder across the face of the grinding wheel 12, the follower roll 84will ride over the irregular surface formed on the template, therebyswinging, the link 86 about the arm 88 and causing the slide rod 20 tomove towardand away from the grinding wheel, which movement is, ofcourse, imparted to the work holder 22 and the supported blade 36.

The machine as illustrated is provided with means which may be operatedeither automatically or manually for feeding the work holder 22 and theparts which support the holder toward or away from the grinding wheel 12in order properly to position the supported blade at the commencement ofa grinding operation or to feed the bladetoward the grinding wheel asthe former is worn away during the course of the grinding operation. Tothis end a screw shaft 15 is threaded into the bearing 14 in such amanher that rotation of the screw shaft imparts bodily movement to thebearing 14, the slide bar 16, and the parts carried thereby. The feedingmechanism of which the shaft 15 is a part, is not claimed herein, beingset forth and claimed in my copending application Serial N 0. 22,144,filed April 10, 1925.

Although the device as illustrated is for the purpose of supporting anUltima heel trimming blade, it will, of course, be understood thatvarious forms of work carriers may be interchangeably mounted on thesupportin rod 212 to accommodate blades of all forms, without in anyrespect departing from the scope of my invention.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In an abradingmachine, a work holder comprising a body portion having a clamping armformed integral therewith, a co Operating clamping arm mounted forsliding movement relatively to the integral arm, means including aspring, a rack bar. and a locking pawl for adjusting initially saidclamping arms relatively to each other, and means including a'screw-threaded rod for effecting a final adjustment of said clampingarms.

2. In an abrading machine, a work holder comprising a body portionprovided with an integral clamping arm and a slidably mounted clampingarm, a sleeve, having rack teeth formed thereon, extending through theintegral arm in the direction of the slidable arm, a rod extendingthrough said sleeve and having threaded engagement with said slidablearm, means to prevent rotation of said sleeve, means to preventlongitudinal movement of said screw rod relatively tosaid sleeve, aspring arranged to encompass a portion of the sleeve and to urge saidsleeve in a direction to cause approach between said slidable arm andsaid integral arm, and a locking pawl carried by said body portion forco-operation with said rack teeth in holding the sleeve against movementin a direction to cause separation between the sliclable arm and theintegral arm.

3. In an abrading machine, a work holder comprising a plurality ofclamping arms provided with portions having curved grooves andconstructed and arranged to engage and support a curved knife, automaticmeans constructed and. arranged to secure an initial yielding clampingof the knife by said clamping arms, and manual means constructed andarranged to secure an increased final non-yielding clamping of the knifeby the clamping arms.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

ALFRED B. FOlVLER.

